could it be an age thing?

Although I kept a weather-eye on what was happening in the world, via the internet, while I was away on Iona for two months, I feel as if I’ve been spending a fair amount of time since my return playing catch-up as far as news+newspapers are concerned (yes, I HAVE been aware of the main action in the Leveson Inquiry and the fact that Paul Lambert has become the new Villa manager!).

Strangely, it seems that the matter of “age” has been a common factor recently:
1.    David Beckham’s failure to make it into the GB Olympic team has been put down to age (they overlooked me too, so I think they might have a point!).
2.    I found myself fascinated by much of the debate around Jeremy Paxman’s TV humiliation of junior Treasury minister, Chloe Smith (regarding the deferred 3p rise in fuel duty) on Newsnight and her earlier (apparently equally poor) “performance” on Channel 4 News… it seems as though her boss (George) was dining with friends at the time and had been unavailable! In some quarters, Paxman was being criticised because she was just a young, inexperienced minister and he was an experienced street-fighting media-man!
3.    Interesting, there was an article by Steve Richards in The Independent which also talked about politicians (in this case, Cameron+Osborne) being out of their depth due to their inexperience (here's a brief extract): "They are by no means alone in this, but they are much the most exposed. In spite of the storms, both are still fairly effective performers. Most of the time they are calm and witty in the Commons and in interviews. But in terms of policy-making, and in the confused projection of their agenda, they struggle to stay afloat. For illumination, always follow the policy trail, not the public demeanour of the policy-makers".
4.     Ironically, the next article I read (in the Guardian) was talking about the possibility of Tony Blair becoming Prime Minister again!
5.    In the light of the latest recent Banking scandals, there was an intriguing article by Ian Leslie, again in the Guardian, linked to bankers and City traders entitled “The Problem with Testosterone”. Here’s just a brief extract: “The researchers found that on days when the traders beat their previous monthly average, their testosterone levels would go through the roof. One trader, for example, enjoyed a winning streak that saw his profits reach twice his historic average – and his testosterone increase by 76%. Even more significantly, Coates and Herbert found that when traders' morning levels of testosterone were higher than normal, they made higher profits than days when they started off with low levels. In other words, better trades produced more testosterone, and testosterone made them better traders. What makes you a better trader for a day or a week, however, can in the long term lead you to take disastrous mistakes”. So, maybe that’s an age-thing too!?

Too old? Too young?
Somewhat ironically, all this comes after I’ve spent the past two months working with volunteers in the Iona Community – whose ages ranged from 18 up to mid-60s.
For what it's worth, I think we complemented each other beautifully (but I would say that, wouldn't I)!
Photo: little mouse Chloe and big, bad Jeremy on Newsnight.

greed, incompetence and dishonesty

I’ve blogged several times over recent years about such matters as the (lack of) integrity of bankers, the (lack of) ethics of the stock market and the lengths to which those governing this country (especially the current government) seem to have gone to defend the nation’s banking system in the light of public criticism.

You might recall that greedy bankers were one of the principal causes of the worldwide financial crisis (and that WE, not the banks, are principally charged with paying for their “errors”)!
You might also recall how, when threatened by the structural reform of their industry, the Banks responded with messages of “don’t push us too hard – because we’re the best hope of reviving the economy”.
You might also recall how our brave, wise UK government eventually decided on a strategy to split the investment and business wings of the nation’s Banks (note: although it’s been in government for more than two years, legislation has STILL not been forthcoming – the proposed Banking Reform Bill was only announced in the Queen’s Speech in May this year). At the time, the Chancellor was reassuring us all that it was simply the speculative (ie. gambling!) side of the banking industry that had been the problem and that his proposed legislation would essentially solve everything!
Oh, how wrong he was!
Yesterday (and some of us would say “not before time”), the Governor of the Bank of England called for a change in banking culture. This followed a week in which UK banks have been accused of mis-selling personal payment insurance; Barclays was fined £290m for fixing a key interest rate; and the UK's big four banks were found to have mis-sold complicated financial products to thousands of small businesses.  
But don’t worry your silly little heads... because £100billion of public money is about to be poured into the banks via the chancellor’s “funding for lending” scheme. Everything’s going to be absolutely fine, you’ll see!

may/june books

Strangely, I read far less on Iona than I usually do (perhaps my top bunk bed didn’t quite suit my reading habits?):

The Hidden Roads (Kevin Crossley-Holland): Essentially, this is a memoir of middle-class childhood of the 1940s+50s in England. Evocative, poignant and funny. The book initially caught my eye when I saw that Crossley-Holland had been largely brought up at Whiteleaf in the Chiltern Hills – not very far from where we lived in Thame.
Echoes of Memory (John O’Donohue): I love O’Donohue’s writing and this collection of poems – essentially exploring themes of love+loss, beginnings+endings - is just beautiful.
Iona (Kenneth C Steven): Steven has a long association with the west coast of Scotland – and Iona in particular. This short book contains just over 50 poems. He has a very simple, direct style and a lyrical quality that perfectly captures the character of the island and the surrounding area.
The Hungered One (Ed Bullins): This is a collection of short stories from the USA of the late 1960s/early 70s – exploring loneliness and despair (especially in connection with the youth of Black USA at the time). I have to say, I really struggled with it (the style? the subject matter?) and probably should have just put it aside rather than persevering until the end. People apparently talk about Bullins as being a “groundbreaking and historically significant writer” – but, apart from brief glimpses, he didn’t do anything for me I’m afraid.
The Cellist of Sarajevo (Steven Galloway): This is a simply beautiful book. It’s a powerful novel which tracks the lives of three individuals during the horrific Siege of Sarajevo (April 92-February 96). It’s about the human spirit, dignity, grace, civility, pride and a refusal to sink to the inhuman depths of the main protagonists of a war that shamed so many individuals and governments.

more iona reflections

I’ll obviously continue to reflect on my two months on Iona over the coming days and weeks (and years?), but here are some further thoughts to be going on with:

1.       My last couple of days on the island are a bit of a blur (not linked to red wine, I hasten to add!) – I was conscious that I would be saying goodbye to lots of people who’d become very good friends and also of the need to visit places on the island for the “last time" before I departed. Even though it rained pretty hard in the afternoon, my final morning was a gloriously sunny one and, somewhat ironically, I decided to visit Port Ban (an idyllic, secluded beach just north of the Machair) which, incredibly, I’d NEVER previously visited in all my times on Iona. It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL and, as you can see from the above photograph, it was easy to think I was in some tropical paradise (actually, it DID feel like paradise!).
2.       Volunteers are encouraged to “sign up” and lead Morning Worship in the Abbey church (not as onerous as it sounds – we follow the simple, brief format outlined in the Community’s Worship Book). I’d taken a service a few weeks earlier but, a few days ago, agreed to take Tuesday morning’s service (it seemed appropriate as it was the last morning service I'd be attending). A little time later, it was casually mentioned that BBC Radio 4 would be on the island for three days with John Bell (writer, composer, musician, broadcaster, lecturer, former student-activist and all-round “icon” of the Iona Community – who, it seems, spends most of his time these days sharing his insights in various locations throughout the world) and that “if it was ok with everyone”, they might be recording some of our services in the Abbey church! It took me a little time to realise that “my” morning service might well be one of the “typical” services that they might be recording. Oh, my goodness - what HAD I got myself into?! As you might imagine, it was somewhat unnerving (an understatement!) to discover someone standing next to you during the service holding sound equipment! In addition, and (fortunately) unknown to me at the time, John Bell was also in the congregation – and later congratulated me on the service (being the man he is, I’m sure he’d have said this anyway, even if things had gone disastrously wrong!).
3.       Volunteers also put together Leaving Cards for each departing volunteer. The covers of these are frequently entitled “Iona 2012” and contain an image of one of the large stone crosses. For mine, however, the cover simply contained the word “pink” (and its colour was pink too)… plus a “centre-fold” line of pink paper trousers (click here to see an image)! Clearly, people were much-amused by the sight of an old bloke like me wearing a pair of ancient and somewhat threadbare PINK cord trousers. Surely, this must constitute some form of discrimination!?
4.       Leaving the island first thing yesterday was pretty emotional (Hannah, Wendy and Petr were also departing). Lots of available (ie. not working) volunteers and resident staff members turned up to wave goodbye to us from the jetty (click here for a pic) – and this followed a farewell drink in the Bar and a cake-eating session in Cul Shuna (“our” house) the night before (click here!)
5.       I’m VERY conscious that I am in urgent need of a haircut and that my shoes desperately need some shoe polish!
6.       I’d lost a little weight before going to Iona (long overdue, some would say!). Somewhat amazingly, given the regular consumption of jam scones at coffee time and a whole host of puddings, I’ve actually continued to lose a little more weight (and am probably a stone lighter than I was about a year ago). Is this down to not eating lots of cheese? Standing up all day working in the shop? Less snacking? I really don’t know… but this seems like very good news to me!
7.       Perhaps the only real disappointment was not being able to meet up with great friends Gail+Ian Adams – who arrived on Iona yesterday, some 6 hours after I’d departed!

I think I’ve written about 25 blogposts during my time on Iona. Two of the other volunteers have also been writing blogs and I would highly recommend that you check them out (and they write much better than me!): Lee Ann and Dawn.

Photo: me sitting on the beach at Port Ban.

iona reflections

Tomorrow is my last day on the island.

I’m really looking forward to getting home and seeing family and friends again, but it does seem strange to be contemplating leaving the island at the end of my 8-week volunteering stint with the Iona Community. I’ll be taking with me LOTS of brilliant memories of my time here and, no doubt, some of my thoughts will crystallise and/or develop over the coming days and weeks.
However, in no particular order, these are some initial thoughts:
1. “Carry-Out” meals (from the Abbey kitchen) with Tom in Shuna garden on sunny days – overlooking the Sound.
2. Regular “breakfast” sessions with Beth+Wendy (and Judith in the early days).
3. Walk to St Columba’s Bay with Moira.
4. Being shown the “spouting cave” by Andrew+Tom and seeing the Machair “properly” for the first time from high ground and marveling at the colour of the sea.
5. My lovely shop manager Fiona and her wonderful assistant Dagmar!
6. Hitting golf balls on Iona Golf Course on the Machair.
7. Watching the sunsets from Dun I (and from the North End and from the Machair).
8. My daily walk to work – from Cul Shuna, along the shoreline, to the Abbey.
9. The constantly-changing colour of the sea (and the sky).
10. Watching dolphins jumping in the Sound (just off the jetty) for over half-an-hour.
11. Suddenly being aware of splashes in the water in the middle of the Sound and realising they were being caused by gannets crashing into the water in search of fish.
12. Franziska’s infectious optimism/humour and Damaris’s “hats”.
13. The changing nature of the sky – especially around sunset.
14. The length of the days (over 17.5 hours of official daylight – although, frankly, you could probably have still read a newspaper outside at midnight).
15. Wildlife, especially the birdlife (and the constant sounds of corncrakes, cuckoos, thrushes, and blackbirds)… including the oyster catchers, puffins and the gannets and ACTUALLY seeing two corncrakes!
16. Being in the MacNeil Library (ie. the volunteers’ internet space) and being aware of just how dependent we’ve become on the internet!
17. The amazingly good weather over my 8-week stay (perhaps only 4 or 5 wet/murky days - while the rest of the UK seemed to be suffering quite badly!).
18. Adjusting (surprisingly easily) to sleeping on a top bunk bed for 8 weeks – including my regular trips to the loo in the early hours!
19. Listening to the improvised piano-/guitar-playing in the Abbey church (especially before the services) from Tom, Mo and Becki.
20. The “Sacristy Post-Solstice Olympics” (Wendy+Petr+my farewell “party”)! Oh, good grief!
21. The rhythm of the days and the weeks.
22. Walking past people on the “street” and everyone smiling and saying “hello”.
23. Seeing Moira for the first time for over five weeks on the jetty (very special moment!).
Other stuff:
A:  The other volunteers were an absolutely amazing group of people – with ages ranging from 18 up to mid-60s and from all over the world (eg. USA, Canada, Germany, Finland, Australia, Czech Republic, Paraguay, South Africa, New Zealand, Japan, Northern Ireland, Scotland and England!). Even though our time together was relatively short (very short in some cases – with the “vollies” who left fairly early or late on in my time on the island), we became very good friends. Lots of laughter.  Volunteers AND Resident Staff members (usually with the Community on 3-year contracts) were exceptional people. If ever you needed reassurance about all the positive aspects of life then these colleagues demonstrated it in spades – creativity, intelligence, humility, generosity, sense of fun etc etc. It was a real privilege to have been able to spend time with them.
B:  My little “post card project” (ie. producing 40 sketches/pieces of text on postcards and sending them to 40 friends) has been hugely enjoyable. I would never have thought of involving myself in anything like this, so I owe Ruth an enormous debt of gratitude for her initial idea and her gift of blank postcards and stamps! It certainly gave me some focus for many of my days off (it’s interesting that many of the other volunteers ended up taking up “arty pastimes” too – learning to play musical instruments, jewellery-making, tapestry kits and the like).
C:  I could only afford to go to the “Bar” perhaps a couple of times a week but, after the first fortnight or so, the bar-owner John helpfully pointed out that it would be cheaper for me to buy wine by the bottle rather than a “glass-at-a-time”… and that he would gladly put my name on the bottle at the end of an evening and keep it until the next time I was in the bar. A cunning plan. However, you might not be surprised to learn that I wasn’t actually in a position to hand back any part-used bottles at the end of an evening (John reckoned that this was because I was “too generous” pouring out for other people)! Hey ho.
D:  Working in the shop was absolutely brilliant (ie. my lovely fellow-workers and the nature of the work), but an unexpected bonus of this was constantly bumping into people around the village/in services/walking who recognised me (and/or me recognising them)… and our brief, friendly conversations.

iona community bookshop

When I volunteered to help the Iona Community, I had to complete an application form. This asked me to list my preferences of the sort of work I would be prepared to do. I said I was happy to “do anything”. In the event, I was assigned to work in the Community Shop (essentially a bookshop that also sells a variety of good-quality local and/or fair-traded products). Although I was delighted by this, I didn’t fully appreciate my good fortune until I arrived on the island and met shop manager, Fiona, and her assistant manager, Dagmar. They are both absolutely lovely people – with a wonderful, open, friendly and happy way of running a successful venture (some big businesses could learn an awful lot from them, methinks!). They both made me feel very welcomed and have been incredibly encouraging throughout my time working with them (and we’ve also laughed a lot!). I’ve also been extremely lucky to have worked with brilliant colleagues along the way (although, due to the nature of volunteering, the personnel changed during the course of my time as a shop-worker): Franziska, Judith, Ann, Daniel and Maddie. We’ve worked hard, but it’s been great fun… and (although I hesitate to say this with only a couple of working days left!) the customers have been pretty amazing too – I can’t recall a single difficult “punter”. People who know me won’t perhaps be too surprised to learn that, as a shop-worker, I was much better talking to customers than actually dealing with the technical niceties of cash tills and the like (although, by the end, I was beginning to become ALMOST competent!!).

Happy times, wonderful people!
Photo: the community shop gang: Daniel, Fiona, Maddie and Dagmar (with apologies for not being able to include the other lovely fellow-colleagues Franziska, Judith and Ann!). x

my little iona postcard project

Amazingly (well, amazing to me anyway), I’ve actually completed my little Iona postcard project – almost a week before the end of my stay. If you haven’t a clue what I’m talking about, you might like to see my previous posts on the subject (or maybe not!) - like this one, or this or this? 

To be honest, I’m surprised how brilliant this has been – NOT in terms of the quality of the resulting sketches and like (which have been somewhat crude in many instances) , but in terms of the focus it’s helped to provide for my “down-time” on the island. I’ve really enjoyed the discipline of creating very quick sketches (20 minute maximum, with only one or two exceptions – postcard size is rather useful in this respect!). Somewhat predictably, I’ve found “architectural” sketches very much easier than landscapes (I’ve found results of the latter very disappointing and incredibly frustrating!). I’ve also found that the use of watercolour pencils has been a simple way of adding very quick colour to my scribbles (applying the water back at “home” in Cul Shuna – and therefore avoiding the need to carry wet sketches with me on my walks around the island!).
Although I would probably have brought a sketch book with me, I would almost certainly only have completed a handful of drawings at most.
So, MASSIVE thanks to Ruth for her original project idea and for her encouragement. It’s been a key part of my time on Iona and will provide a lasting memory of my visit.
Photo: some more of the 40 postcards I’ve sent to friends during my time on Iona (as I say, the quality varies!)… I didn’t photograph them all!
PS: I’ve posted off my last batch of postcards so, if you haven’t already done so, you should certainly have received yours by the end of the month (even allowing for the UK postal service)… if you don’t then, perhaps you’ll have to produce your own substitute sketch version!!  

golfing on iona

Unfortunately, Adam+I had to abandon plans for golfing at the Iona Golf Course on Monday evening due to rain (Adam’s now left the island at the end of his volunteering stint). With my days on the island fast running out, I decided to walk to the Machair this morning on my day off (where the golf course is located) to spend a little time sketching and also to take the opportunity to hit a few golf balls.

It may not be Pebble Beach, Carnoustie, Ballybunion or St Andrews, but it WAS absolutely beautiful (and no sheep were harmed in the process!).
Photo: an obliging tourist agreed to take this pic - so Ken, Steve, Pete et al could have photographic evidence!  

adam

Adam is from South Africa. He’s nineteen years old (his birthday was a couple of weeks ago). He’s mad keen on sport (he’s been organising weekly cricket matches for guests on the north end beach and encouraging games of golf on the course at the Machair)(and, believe me, it’s been really tough that England have been losing to the Spingboks at rugby over the past couple of weeks!)… and he’s also gregarious, funny, charming, confident and intelligent with it! I’ve frequently found myself trying to remember how I was as a nineteen year-old and comparing myself with Adam and a whole host of the other volunteers… you won’t be surprised to hear that they put me to shame by comparison!

Adam’s on a gap year before starting university in South Africa. He’s a historian – fascinated, amongst other things, in Roman history and Everest – and is determined to study at Cambridge University in due course. I haven’t the slightest doubt that this will happen. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised to see him becoming history’s David Attenborough on television before too long… and, to think, I knew him before he was famous!
Adam’s been a volunteer with the Iona Community over the past 13 weeks and we waved him goodbye from the jetty this morning. He’ll be sorely missed.
A great young man… and we’ll definitely be meeting up again before too long.
Photo: jetty goodbyes (from left to right: Joshua, Anne, Julia, Janelle, Karen, Damaris, Beth, Adam, Petr, Daniel and Noelia).
.

day off with moira

I’ve been extremely fortunate with fine weather on my days off work. The five-day weather forecast (with Moira joining me on the island this week) hadn’t seemed particularly good – although, thankfully, mainly dry. In the event, we’ve had another good week and, yesterday, it was absolutely beautiful… and perfect walking weather. Moira had been troubled with a bad knee and so, very reluctantly, had decided against going on the “all terrain” 7-mile pilgrimage of the previous day and had opted for the “on road” 3-mile version (which apparently proved to be really enjoyable – and led by my lovely “boss” Fiona). Yesterday, she felt fit enough to opt for a walk to St Columba’s Bay at the south end of the island and we enjoyed a really beautiful walk - via the white sands and the blue-turquoise seas of the Machair – and a picnic lunch at St Columba’s Bay (watching oyster catchers at close quarters, walking the stone labyrinth on the beach and being mesmerized by all the beautiful beach stones!).

We had afternoon tea (and shared a scone, as you do!) in the lovely Heritage Centre Café garden before going on a guided tour of the Abbey (something I’d been meaning to do for ages!) and then, after supper and the short evening service, walked to the North End to watch the sun going down.
A really lovely day… and great to have shared it together.
Photo: Moira… on the last leg of our walk to St Columba’s Bay.

reunion

Moira arrived on Iona on Saturday and it was just WONDERFUL to see her again after some five-and-a-half weeks (the longest time we’d been apart in our nearly 40 years of marriage). On Sunday, we treated ourselves to a night (and a beautiful meal) at the St Columba Hotel. Living life in community has been very enjoyable, but there’s nothing quite like spending time with your lovely wife (and enjoying the odd glass of red with your meal)!

Photo: the view from our room (Bishop’s House and the Sound of Iona… with Mull in the background).

andrew

Today, in the constant stream of toing-and-froings, we said goodbye to Andrew from Iona. Andrew was my first room-mate here on the island and he’s quite an amazing young man (from Winnipeg, Canada – like two other colleagues on the island!) – intelligent, very personable, tall, athletic, adventurous, independent… and a good cook… and a brilliant musician… and with a great sense of humour (oh, and he’s also a wine connoisseur!)!

He’ll be sadly missed by us all on the island.
Photo: Andrew (with Damaris and Julia – who are joining him a week’s holiday to the Isle of Skye, before he sets off to walk Hadrian’s wall… before going on to Germany).
PS: Andrew+I had somewhat different body clocks: Andrew would frequently go to bed after 1pm and wake up late (when he wasn’t on “early” kitchen duty), while I would go to bed reasonably early and get up 5-6am!

franziska

Some very special people left the island this morning at the end of their stint of volunteering: Tereza, Ann, Krystof and Franziska. Franziska is one of my fellow-shopworkers and so we’ve got to know each other pretty well over the past few weeks (I’ve previously posted a note about the weekly Taize services at the Abbey – which she has been running). She’s definitely a very intelligent, larger-than-life character and she’s made me laugh and smile throughout our time together. Her language skills are hugely impressive – but she was always querying something I’d said and asked why the English used a particular phrase or word… in the end, my frequent answer was simply “because we do” in order to avoid further prolonged (but hilarious) discussion. We play music all day in the shop (usually from the “Wild Goose” stuff we sell) and she was frequently prone to bursting into song herself (sometimes at quite high volumes!)… one day, a customer asked me: “does she work here?” – I was tempted just to shrug and suggest she was just one of our many happy customers, but…(!). The weather on the island has been pretty good throughout my time here (so far) – indeed, on occasions positively balmy. Franziska always seemed to be overdressed (in terms of layers of clothes); on one hot day she proudly announced that she had decided to dispense of ONE of her pairs of leggings (and, indeed, her leg-warmers and her fingerless gloves)!!

Franziska has also become my adopted daughter - she kept referring to me as “Daddy” – so, it’s a great shame that she won’t be on Iona when “step-mother” Moira comes this weekend! 
As you can imagine, there were lots of hugging when we said our farewells on the jetty this morning.
I’ll miss her hugely and am just grateful for the time we worked together.

dolphins+gannets

I had a day off yesterday. It started out pretty grey+wet, so I decided to treat myself to morning coffee at the St Columba Hotel (although, in truth, the coffee turned out to be rather disappointing). But the weather gradually improved, so I went for a walk and ended up sketching near the jetty. Great fellow-volunteer friend Adam had just waved off his friend on the ferry when he noticed some dolphins on the Sound and called me over. So we spent the next 45 minutes or so scanning the water for any sign and being mesmerised by their antics whenever we caught sight of them (perhaps a group of five dolphins in total?)… and a lot of this happened just 100 metres or so away from us too!

Needless to say, I took lots of photographs – but, inevitably, several were just of blue water (with absolutely no sign of ANY dolphins!) or somewhat blurred or just boringly small. However, I felt very fortune to have had half a dozen or so turn out pretty reasonably – and very privileged to have watched those amazing creatures.
Simply wonderful.
Later, in the evening, as if nature hadn’t already excelled itself, I was walking back from the Abbey to my Iona “home” along the shoreline and I spotted a group of gannets soaring into the sky and then plunging down into the Sound (you first notice the sporadic splashes in the water, then you see the blurred white of the birds as they enter the water at high speed). I watched them for about 10 minutes. Sadly, they were too far off for me take any photographs(!) – but the sight of them was quite spectacular.
An amazing day!
PS: google reckons that the collective name for a group of gannets is either a “plunging” or a “company” of gannets!

small world...

Some of this week’s guests at the Iona Community are a group of people discussing the on-going Israeli occupation of Palestinian land/siege of Gaza. Garth Hewitt (singer, songwriter, writer and political activist in support of “justice and peace for forgotten communities”) played a powerful concert in the Abbey church last night. He’s been addressing the Palestinian situation for over 20 years.

Knowing that Garth and his wife Gill were coming to Iona, my great friend Si Smith had asked Gill to look out for me (he knows her from Greenbelt) – so we had a good chat after yesterday’s supper. Their son Thomas had established Umthombo in South Africa over the past 15 years (one of the Amos Trust projects), focusing on the plight of the street children. Our lovely friend Wilf, from Bristol, had been involved in producing a brilliant Umthombo book – and, of course, Gill knew him well (I’d also done a little work for the charity at Greenbelt etc some three years ago and promoted it in some school assemblies).
It's a small world…
Photo: a rather “atmospheric” (ie. poor quality!) pic of Garth performing in the Abbey church (click on image to enlarge).

mo

Mo left Iona this morning at the end of his stint of volunteering with the Community. Not only is he an absolutely lovely, amusing, gentle, generous man, he was the Community’s musician over recent months. He’s been absolutely brilliant. One of my long-lasting memories of my stay on the island will be his piano accompaniments at the twice-daily services in the Abbey (as well as his skills on the saxophone!). He would play the piano for about 10 minutes before the services started (getting there early was a “must”!) and has an amazing ability to blend his own compositions, established tunes and improvisation with apparent ease.

Absolutely breathtaking at times.
Goodbye, lovely man… we’ll miss you terribly.
Photo: Mo on the jetty before departure.
PS: fortunately, I’ve got a CD of some of his own music and it’ll be something I’ll treasure from my time here – bringing back memories of Mo and his sublime music.

more postcards...

I’m continuing to enjoy spending a little of my free time doing very quick sketches around the island. Apart from one drawing (part of a stained glass window, which took me some 25 minutes – and proved far more complicated than I’d first imagined!), I’m really pleased to find that I’m keeping to my target limit time of 15 minutes for each drawing. Again, the quality isn’t wonderful, but they’re a good “snapshot” of my time on the island.

Very surprisingly, I discovered last night that I’d already completed 29 postcards (and I’m only half way into my 8-week stint), so the pressure's off!
My original intention had been to produce 20 sketches and 20 pieces of text. In reality, this has changed somewhat – I’ll probably end up doing all but say 5 or 6 as drawings – but that’s fine.
Photo:  the lastest batch destined for today’s post.

taize

My lovely friend, co-volunteer and fellow-shopworker, Franziska (from Leipzig) has been arranging  simple, weekly Taize services in the Abbey (after the main Sunday evening “quiet place” service).

Each week, some 50 people turn up each time and either sit on cushions in the chancel or in the choir stalls.
Franziska has a simply beautiful singing voice (don’t tell her I think so!) and the rest of us follow her lead (both the gifted singers and those, like me, that don’t fall into this category!).
The overall effect is quite magical and it’s a powerful, and fitting, end to the day.
Photo: candles at the altar.

big gig in iona library

Had a wonderful evening yesterday in the equally wonderful Iona Library to see/listen to King Creosote+Jon Hopkins. The library is TINY (just 10x6 paces externally!) but still managed to cram in a small stage (just over ONE metre deep!) plus seating for perhaps 35(?)… it was a sell-out and it was indeed full to bursting. I’d bought their brilliant “Diamond Mine” CD a couple of months ago and, since then, have sent copies to my brother Alan and great mates Adam+Si. Much to my utter amazement, I received a message from Ian a couple of weeks ago explaining that they were “playing Iona Library” on 23 May… so, obviously, I just HAD to be there!
I arrived early - only to watch people piling cardboard boxes of books outside the library – to maximise space for chairs! KC+JH were great – not quite up to the musical standard of their CD, but very entertaining. It appears that that they’d spent from mid-afternoon at the Argyll Hotel being plied with a series of triple gin-and-tonics (which continued right through the performance!)… they also joined everybody in the Bar on the jetty afterwards!! They might not welcome this morning’s bright sunshine!
Definitely an evening I’ll remember!
Photo: poor quality pic of KC+JH concert – but note the wonderful library book shelves!!
PS: if you’ve never come across them, I suggest you click here to get a “feel” of their music.

staffa

Janelle, Krystof, Joshua, Adam+I went to the beautiful island of Staffa yesterday (just a 45 minute boat ride away). I’d been there five years ago, but had failed to see any puffins – they’d apparently left the week before! The weather was fine and the sea somewhat choppy (but invigorating!) and, this time, we were indeed fortunate enough to see puffins. They’re amazing birds – very quick through the air but also comparatively docile when on land and, at times, being prepared to settle only a matter of a few metres away from people. I managed to take some photographs – but some of my best opportunities were dashed when my zoom lens temporarily jammed! Hey ho! If I’d have be braver (ie. if I wasn’t scared of heights!), I might have ventured closer to cliff edges (see above photograph of Adam, for example!) and been able to capture more images.

Given time restraints on the island, we decided to focus on trying to find puffins and, although the others quickly ventured into Fingal’s cave (I’d been in last time), I spent the remainder of my time on the island being mesmerized by the wonderful rock formations.
On the boat, we also saw seals AND a dolphin (which suddenly leapt out of the water right next to the boat and then disappeared, never to be seen again – by us at least!)… but I don’t think anyone (on a boat FILLED with people with very expensive cameras) managed to take a picture.
A brilliant morning. If you ever get a chance to visit Staffa, this is a MUST-do!
Photo: Adam getting up close to puffins.

abbey music

The Abbey is a very atmospheric place and a wonderful setting for music (for me, especially when played on the piano). I’ll no doubt write about the Community’s current wonderful resident musician, Mo (from Germany), on another occasion but sometimes guests contribute to Abbey services too. As you can imagine, the quality of the guest pianists can be a little variable! However, in the past week, we have been treated to some sublime music from professional concert organists/pianists (Willeke and Arno from Holland) – featuring works by Bach, Chopin and Mozart. As a final offering, they had written a special piece of music for one of the other guests (Ann, a church minister from Michigan) which an ad-hoc choir performed at the short “farewell service” on Friday morning.

Utterly beautiful and completely captivating.
Photo: grand piano in the Abbey (north gallery/music loft).

happy hellos and sad goodbyes

I’m now well into my third week on Iona and realise that the weekly rhythm is a mixture of hellos and goodbyes as new people arrive on the island and others bid farewell. Guests arrive on Saturday afternoons and depart first thing Friday mornings. In addition, there are always some volunteers leaving and this generally happens on Wednesday mornings – with new replacements arriving during the course of Wednesday afternoons. This provides a strange, but rather lovely, structure to every week. As far as the guests are concerned, we’re meeting up with complete strangers, getting to know some of them quite well (through daily mealtimes and services in the Abbey… and even the odd drink in the bar by the jetty!) and saying goodbye within the space of just six days! For the volunteers, it’s a little different – people are generally on the island for between 8 and 12 weeks (but for some, much longer); this is certainly long enough to develop good friendships and, so, the farewells are often quite emotional affairs!

All available staff and volunteers meet up on the jetty to “send-off” those leaving - this can be a very poignant time for all concerned – guests, staff members and volunteers.
Photo: more jetty farewells (this one for volunteers Janice, Friedhelm and Dennis) – these are just SOME of the volunteers and staff members… the others are “on duty”.

time out

When Ruth first suggested the “postcard” project for my time on Iona , I thought it was a lovely idea. By the time I arrived on Iona, however, I’d started to get “cold feet” – the prospect of producing 40 sketches (or pieces of text) seemed a little daunting (to say the least)!

But, actually (in my third week on the island), it’s proving to be a lovely little project that occupies a portion of my “day off” times (as a volunteer working in the community shop, I have three days off every fortnight).
It’s also been a great discipline to try to limit my time for each sketch to 20 minutes (absolute) maximum – and I think I’ve now already completed 16 thus far.
The quality is far from impressive – but it’s the thought that counts!
PS: the sad thing is I've been reminded that I hate drawing/painting seascapes/landscapes... I definitely prefer some building to focus on. hey ho!

rainbow warriors

Every week we bid farewell to a number of volunteers at the Iona Community (and greet their replacements). On Monday evening, we had a barbeque as a send-off for Julia, Janice, Dennis and Friedhelm. Although it had been a reasonably good day weather-wise, there was always a chance of a shower or a downpour… and, sure enough, the heavens duly opened as we gathered around the newly-christened barbeque beside the beach. In typical British tradition, however, the party continued despite the rain and, rather magically, was blessed by the sight of a beautiful rainbow over the sound to round off the evening.

Not quite rainbow warriors perhaps, but…
Photo: rainbow barbeque.
PS: we were treated to the performance of a rather fine folk/children’s song by our German volunteers – only to be followed by our own rendition of the “hokey-cokey” (which apparently some seemed to find somewhat bemusing)! Surely not?

island

As you're probably already aware, I'm currently living on a small island (approximately 3x1 miles).
I climbed the only "proper" hill on Iona (Dun I, 328ft high) first thing today on a beautifully sunny morning. The above rather, ham-fisted photograph is a panorama of the entire island (complete 360 degrees) - which, hopefully, gives you a sense of just how small the island is. I always love the view from the top of Dun I - with the sea in vision in all directions.
Photo: panorama - with the Abbey (just) in view about half way along the photograph, immediately next to the sea. 
PS: double-click on the photograph to enlarge (albeit only slightly!).

life on iona

Well, I’m now into my second week on the island and things seem to be going pretty well (apart from missing family and friends, of course!).

There is a lovely quiet rhythm that life with the Iona Community provides. Each day is punctuated with a brief morning and evening liturgies (generally at 9am and 9pm) in the Abbey. There’s no rule that people need to attend these, but I’ve found that they act as very good “bookends” to each day’s routine. The volunteers have lunchtime and evening meals with the guests (ie. those attending one of the courses with the Community). All volunteers work five-and-a-half days per week – so life is pretty “full on”. Having said that, all my work and house-share colleagues are lovely and this obviously makes things a lot easier.
As you are probably aware (if you’re on facebook), I’ve been taking LOADS of photographs since I arrived – taking advantage of the beautiful weather in my early days on the island! No doubt, these will progressively reduce in quantity over the course of my stay – but apologies for the abundance, nevertheless!
Iona is a very special place and the Iona Community is a very special “organisation” – with lots of simply lovely special people.
Photo: North End (on a sunny day - it rained ALL day today!).

steve's little iona project

Well, I've actually made a start on my "Little Iona Project"!
This involves producing and sending out 40 postcards to family and friends over the course of the next 7 weeks or so. I'm intending that these postacrds take the form of quick drawings (or perhaps pieces of text) - I've set myself 15 minute "deadlines" to complete them which, for those who know my labourious drawing technique, will provide me with a very real test! I've already emphasised to people that they shouldn't expect very much in terms of quality (I'm not competing with Hockney!). 
Four down and only 36 to go!

settling in

Well, although I only arrived on Iona last Wednesday, it feels as if I’ve already been here much, much longer (in a nice way)! I’ve been introduced to what seems like a bewildering number of new colleagues from all over the world, but don’t seem to be able to remember anyone’s names! As far as nationalities are concerned, for instance, I’m living in a houses shared by 12 volunteers – from Paraguay, Japan, Germany, Canada, USA, Scotland, the Czech Republic (two), Australia (two) and England (two)!
My volunteering role over the next two months is working in the community shop (essentially books and “gifts”) and I’m really lucky to be with some really lovely colleagues who are sympathetic to my lack of cash register skills!
Guests are generally on the island for a week at a time and it’s rather lovely how friendships, albeit very brief, develop in that time over meals and the like (in my case, even if it was over a couple of days last week) – lots of hugging as the community staff and visitors waved guests off from the jetty on Friday!
We’ve been amazingly lucky with the weather so far, but this will no doubt change in the course of the next few days – last week’s guests all went home with suntans.
Photo: early morning view (30m from my back door!).
PS: The birdlife on the island is absolutely amazing. Unfortunately, my bird-spotting skills are poor in the extreme so, hopefully (with the help of the odd reference book), this will be something I’ll be able to work on over the coming weeks. Amongst those I’ve seen thus far: golden eagle and buzzard (on Mull); curlew, cuckoo, crow and corncrake (I’m very proud of this because, apparently, although you hear them all the time here, you very rarely get to see them!).

iona revisted

The stunning weather continued for the second (and final) day of my journey. The 45 minute ferry from Oban to Craignure on Mull couldn’t have happened in better conditions – virtually windless and the water almost mirror-like. This was followed by the 70 minute bus ride across the island of Mull. In the past, this has almost invariably taken place in very murky, cloudy conditions and presented Mull as quite a menacing place - with the dark grey mountains really looking quite overbearing. My journey took place in perfect conditions – the sea and the sky were both brilliantly blue (AND I saw a golden eagle soaring above our bus!).

I met a fellow-volunteer (this was his FIFTH year as a volunteer!) on the Iona ferry and we were warmly greeted on the quay as we arrived on the island and taken to our respective “homes” (I’m staying in staff house called Cul Shuna – with perhaps 10 volunteers staying there? – and sharing a room with a Canadian guy)(I had been told I might have to share with four other blokes!).
I’ve been made to feel very welcome, given the usual staff briefing and have been introduced to (what seems like) dozens of people! I find names difficult to remember at the best of times, so I think this might prove a little challenging!
I managed to get a little exploring time during the afternoon and walked up to the beautiful North Beach (white sand, blue/turquoise seas – you get the general idea!).
Very tempting to make this into a blog diary – but, frankly, it would have been REALLY boring (and repetitive), so I’ll limit stuff to occasional observations…
Photo: Iona Abbey.

en route to iona

Seemed strange flying off from Bristol (in the POURING rain) on May Morning… with memories of our Oxford days and straining to hear the choirboys on Magdalen tower at 6am!

Flight and journeys all pretty straightforward – although I was VERY unimpressed by the EasyJet check-in arrangements! Five staff on duty – four to deal with 200 odd queuing passengers and one to handle to the very short “pay-lots-more- money-quick-check-in-queue” people… then, on three occasions, having late passengers “pushing in” (ie. people who’ve clearly arrived very late at the airport) because their flight had just been called! It took me nearly an hour to eventually pass through check-in and security.
Arrived in Glasgow (dry and bright) before 8.30am and immediately caught the excellent airport bus to Glasgow Central station (dumping my heavy bag at Left Luggage) and then eased my way out on to the streets of Glasgow for coffee and a bacon roll (for a total of £3.08!).
In 2007, I travelled to Oban on the bus (which was fine) but, this time, decided that I should “treat” myself to the train ride (just £6.20 with my Senior Railcard – even though it’s a three hour journey!).
And WHAT a journey – just stunningly beautiful scenery, running alongside gorgeous lochs AND stunning, mountainous countryside (snow-capped too!) AND the sun shone AND the sky was blue!!
The Iona Community needs me to be on Iona by 2.30pm tomorrow so, inevitably, this means an overnight stop-over. On the basis that the coming 8 weeks are likely to be a little on the cramped side (note: I COULD be sharing a room with four other blokes!), I decided to book (online) into a cheapish hotel (the Columba Hotel on the north pier). This turned out to be a good move and I ended up with a very good room on the third floor overlooking Loch Linnhe (see pics!).
For simplicity, I also decided to have an evening meal at the hotel’s own restaurant (I was only SLIGHTLY embarrassed to be drinking red wine with my fish-and-chips, but hey!).
After eating, I walked up the hill to the Coliseum (McCaig’s Tower) – a folly built at the turn of the last century and then watched the sun set over the loch.
All in all, a REALLY wonderful day (reality will start to hit home tomorrow, no doubt, and the rain will start again!).
Photo: it seemed that EVERYONE wanted to take pics of the sunset from Oban's north pier!